This is an introductory video for the new iteration of Death in The Garden, which will consist of video deep-dives into myriad topics surrounding civilization, ecological collapse, and the role of humanity on Earth.
As you may already be aware, Death in The Garden is a multimedia project with the aim of trying to understand how we came to find ourselves in the terrible predicament that we collectively face today — the ecocidal death of the living world, in addition to the nihilism, meaninglessness, enclosure, and cruelty that punctuates our age. Beginning in 2020, we began filming a documentary which quickly turned into a full-blown anthropological and civilizational analysis, questioning the premises and stories that punctuate our time: stories about what kind of a creature mankind is, what “progress” really means, and really considering the implications of many of the mainstream modalities of supposedly “saving the world” — which all function to preserve an unsustainable, extractive, and mechanistic industrial civilization, of course.
What to expect going forward:
Mini-docs! Why mini-docs and not a full-length doc? Well, after realizing that we wanted to discuss and analyze so much, we tried again and again and again to make it work as a feature length project and ultimately realized it would be ridiculously convoluted and unwatchable, and we would have to edit out tons of really interesting information and nuances to make it make sense at all. We ultimately decided that the best way to share this information would be through deep-dives of varying lengths. There’s no one thing that helped shape our worldview, rather, it has been a mosaic of different experiences, films, books, podcasts, and other media that helped us come to understand the issues as we do. This way, we can more freely share these resources and our synthesis of that information with you, and in a more timely fashion.
Creating these mini-docs takes a tremendous amount of time and expense to pull off — and for now, it’s just the two of us working on this. Because of this, most, but not all, of our videos will be hidden behind a paywall. For only $5 a month you can support us in this endeavor and get access to videos, video-scripts, occasional podcasts, and other paid content. If we get enough support, we’ll be able to hire an assistant editor that will allow us to get these videos out more consistently. Until then, we’ll do our very best to get them out as quickly as we can, with the level of quality that we’re comfortable with.
Essays will continue to be published and audio-essay podcasts will continue to be created as well.
You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber or joining us on Patreon.
This video was created by and entirely for humans, and always will be.
Credits:
Introductory monologue was inspired by the beginning of Peter Donovan’s “Atlas of Biological Work,” which can be found at his website, the Soil Carbon Coalition.
Featured song is “People” by The 1975.
Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor: Jake Marquez
Assistant Director, Writer, Producer: Maren Morgan
Executive Producers: James Connolly, Jake Marquez, & Maren Morgan
Featuring: Jake Marquez, Maren Morgan, Parker Burningham, & Kelly Burningham
Welcome to Death in The Garden